Let Me Hold You
by RosalindHawkins
Summary: {Sequel to "Let Me Soothe You"} The summer preceding Joey's first year of college is more stressful than he would have hoped... {Puppyshipping: Joey Wheeler x Seto Kaiba. Two-shot.}
1. Chapter 1

"Cannonball!" Joey landed in the swimming pool with a tremendous splash, the water spreading far enough to hit a disgruntled brunette standing near the edge.

"Watch what you're doing, Joey!" the teen shouted once the blond had resurfaced.

"If you didn't wanna get wet, why are you standing so close to the pool, dumbass!" Joey shouted back, expression as sour as a lemon-flavored warhead.

Yugi and Tea exchanged looks of vague discomfort and annoyance. Tristan and Joey hadn't been getting along well at all for a solid year now, and tensions were only getting worse with every day that passed. This made things uncomfortable for their friends whenever they tried to do things as a group. The two teens had always butted heads, often play-fighting and getting into tiffs that blew over quite quickly, but this was something completely different.

"Or _maybe_ you should just be more careful!" Tristan retorted, eyes narrowed in a fierce glare.

Joey's mouth was open for a foul response when another voice caught his attention and stopped him.

"So Serenity," Duke said smoothly as he sat on the edge of the pool and wrung the water from his shiny black ponytail and smiled at the strawberry blond perched on a lounge chair. "Are you free this weekend? I was thinking you and I could catch a movie together."

"Yes, she's busy!" Joey snapped in response. Duke flashed Yugi and Tea a wink, and they both relaxed a little. Duke was perfectly content to play the mediator to make himself a new target in order to diffuse the tension between Joey and Tristan whenever necessary.

"I am?" Serenity blinked in confusion as she looked up from her phone.

"Yes. You and Mokuba were gonna hang out, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry Duke, maybe another time." She smiled graciously at their dark-haired friend while Ryou, huddled under the shade of a pool umbrella with a book and a bag of jellybeans, shared a smile with Duke.

"That reminds me," Ryou said as he reached into his bag of candy. "Marik said he'd be able to visit us next month after all."

"That's great!" Yugi enthused, eager to change the subject away from the Kaibas so as to avoid further conflict. "It'll be great seeing him again!"

"Yeah, especially because he's not going to be insane this time," Tristan muttered bitterly as he walked towards the locker room.

Yugi sighed when Tristan was out of sight. This was their last summer together before going to college, and he wished that they would all just get along rather than ook for arguments.

"Sorry 'bout that, Yug," Joey apologized, looking guilty and a little flustered.

"It's alright," the teen answered with a nervous laugh.

"No, it's not," Tea contradicted, crossing her arms. "You're as much to blame for this as he is. If you would stop antagonizing him, then we wouldn't have any problems!"

Joey was going to respond by giving Tea a piece of his mind, but he managed to restrain himself, much to her approval.

"You know, Joey, You could bring Kaiba along with you one of these times," Duke commented casually as he stood and stretched his arms, his body glistening with water droplets.

"We'd have to leave Tristan out that time, though," Ryou pointed out with a neutral tone.

"Nah, this isn't really his kind of thing," Joey rebuffed with a grateful smile. "Thanks, though."

Kaiba would never want to be shirtless in public, let alone in front of Yugi and the gang.

* * *

Joey used to be a heavy sleeper. Maybe it had been induced by the torrent of hormones and physical development that accompanied adolescence, but that ability to sleep through any sound or disturbance, no matter how loud, had left him long ago. Sometimes he wondered if it was just a subconscious perception of danger or trouble that helped him to wake when he would be needed, but he didn't often contemplate the cause. Whatever the cause, Joey was capable of sensing Seto's distressed sleep in the middle of the night, even though he didn't make a sound.

For the third time this summer (as far as Joey knew), Seto was having a nightmare. His slight tossing and turning woke Joey, who rolled over and reached out towards the brunette, grabbing his shoulder in one hand and giving him a small shake.

"Seto, wake up," he called softly, but with little effect.

He licked his lips and was about to call out again when Kaiba suddenly sat bolt upright in bed, breathing heavily as he registered the fact that he'd woken up. After a moment of stillness, he shuddered, covering his face with one hand as he swallowed hard and tried to catch his breath. Joey, still lying down, gently touched Seto's arm, making him flinch in surprise.

"Come here," the blond murmured, and Seto quickly complied, laying in Joey's embrace and burying his face in Joey's chest. Kaiba was laying on his stomach as Joey's arms went around him, holding him close and sensing every heartbeat and every breath he took.

"They burn," Seto whispered in anguish, and Joey's hands went right to Seto's back, softly stroking his scars. Joey kissed the top of his lover's head as he smoothed over every inch of scar tissue he could find.

"You're okay now," the blond murmured soothingly. "You're safe." Joey couldn't help that little spark of anger that flared up inside him against Gozaburo Kaiba as he continued calming the brunette. Seto would never tell him in detail what had happened to him when he was a kid, but Joey honestly didn't want to know. He did know that it had all been awful enough to permanently scar (physically, emotionally, _and_ psychologically) the strongest person he knew. Kaiba had gotten _some_ closure from confronting his step-father in the Virtual World, but some things still hadn't changed.

"I didn't have a nightmare," Kaiba whispered after a little while, snuggled comfortably in Joey's arms.

"Hm." Joey's neutral grunt prompted Kaiba to elaborate.

"It was just my scars getting irritated in my sleep that—"

"That induced a sense of panic because of past associations or whatever," Joey finished for him with a sigh. "I know, I know." It was the same thing he'd said the last time this happened. "You need to get help, Seto."

"I'll be fine—" he began to protest.

"But you're not," Joey interrupted, his heart heavy. He could feel Kaiba's chest rise and fall as he heaved a deep sigh.

"I'm never going to be able to forget him, will I?"

Joey almost couldn't hear the brunette's words, his voice was so quiet.

"I don't know." Joey felt helpless with Seto struggling like this in a way that Joey wasn't able to help. "But as long as you live here and work in that office building and carry his name... I don't think you will be."

Seto didn't seem to have a response to that, so they just lay together like that for a while. When Joey thought Kaiba had fallen asleep, he stopped moving his hands across his back.

"Don't stop yet," Seto whispered immediately, sounding half asleep. "They only feel better when you touch them."

Joey started stroking his back again, glad to know that he wasn't as helpless as he initially thought.

* * *

 **A/N: This is the first chapter of two. The next chapter is coming next week.**

 **The next story will be coming in March. It _might_ be the last one, but we'll see. It's still very much undetermined. Really, it all just depends on if I can come up with another plot. I might just do another one-shot like this after the next one. Like I said, we'll see. It might be time for me to move on to another Puppyshipping universe. ;) _Please review_ and let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

Seto jerked awake in the darkness, his heart in his throat as he felt himself falling forward, despite his stationary pose on the bed. He groaned faintly as the vertigo gave him a brief sense of nausea, rolling onto his side as he tried to slow his heart with some deep breaths.

"You're okay," Joey's voice whispered in the darkness as his hand snaked through the covers to find and stroke the brunette's back. Seto sighed with relief and nuzzled into Joey's shoulder.

"I didn't have a nightmare," he whispered back. "I didn't dream at all."

"Not that you can remember, you mean," Joey kindly rebuked.

"Hmm." Joey's cool hands were exactly what he needed; they were the only thing he wanted cooling the agitating, burning sensation.

"I really think you should see a doctor about these. If they bother you this much, you should just get them removed or treated somehow."

"I have an appointment with a specialist for next week."

"Good." Joey sighed a little with relief, and Seto could his warm breath in his hair. "I've been worried about you, and what you'll do when I'm gone." He was referring to college, naturally. His first semester started in less than a month.

"I'll go to work, eat dinner with Mokuba, travel for business, play some card games. The usual things."

"You know that's not what I mean."

"I'll be fine, Joe, just so long as you are."

Joey held Seto for a little while longer, stroking his back with steady, gentle hands.

"I am going to miss you when you go, though."

The brunette's words were so quiet that Joey almost didn't hear them at all.

"The great thing about being married to you," Joey murmured, pausing to kiss Seto's cheek. "Is that if I ever miss you too badly, I know you're only a phone-call away."

"Hm." Seto caught Joey's lips in a proper kiss, and the blond sighed. A moment later, he was wrapped up in the brunette's strong arms, still stroking his broad back as Seto peppered kisses on his chest. This was good, just to hold him like this and know that they still had some time together.

* * *

"How come you didn't swim, Ryou?" Serenity asked as Tea braided her strawberry blond locks for her, the younger girl sitting in front of her friend on the pool-side lounge chair while the teen she'd addressed was curled up in a plastic chair in the shelter of large, durable umbrella at the center of the nearest table. The pool was quiet for now, since Yugi ad the others had all gone to the locker room to change back into their street clothes.

"I get sunburned too easily," Ryou answered sheepishly. "I'm part Irish, so I don't tan, I just _burn_. It gets pretty bad when I'm not careful."

"Oh, that's too bad."

"Nah, it's fine. I still get to tag along and have fun with everyone." He was smiling as he said this, but a moment later, when he reached his hand into the bottom of his pouch of jellybeans, his smile dimmed. "Darn, I think I finished them all."

"If they're gone, then go wash your hands before you stain anything," Tea instructed, crinkling her nose a little at Ryou's sticky, multicolored fingers.

"Alright, I'll be back in a minute."

When Ryou entered the men's locker room, he went straight to the sinks, the changing area at his back and his friends' conversation echoing loudly off the tiled walls.

"—so I'm probably just going to major in General Studies," Joey was saying amiably as Ryou rinsed his soapy hands.

"Shut up!" Tristan's outburst sent shockwaves through the room, and Ryou watched in the mirror as the scene unfolded. Tristan's reaction was a non sequitur to him, but that was probably because he'd missed most of what Joey had said. "I'm tired of listening to you going on and on about that jerk. Are you ever going to shut up about him?"

"Well, _excuse me_ for answering Duke's question!" Joey spat back at him, the two teens now facing each other with fierce sneers and clenched fists. Ryou was drying his hands as quickly as he could, ready to step in if he was needed. Duke and Marik couldn't hold the brawlers apart by themselves, and Yugi never got involved. And Mokuba...

 _Idiots,_ Ryou thought with mild frustration _. They should know better than to get into one of these fights with Mokuba around_. The younger Kaiba was standing by Yugi, eyes wide in bewilderment.

"I'm sick of hearing how that bastard's got you on a leash like a little bitch!"

" _What_ did you just call me?"

"You heard me!" Tristan looked furious, more so than he usually did during these fights. It was actually somewhat frightening to be faced with that irrational rage in someone they considered to be a friend. "It makes me sick how much of a dog you've become!"

"Why you—" The room became loud suddenly, volume and echo colliding to create an unintelligible din.

Duke was the first to throw himself into the fray, with Marik and Ryou moving a fraction of a second later. Duke had inserted himself between Joey and Tristan just as they started to move closer to each, arms raised to start throwing punches. Duke grunted as he was smashed between them, Ryou reaching for Tristan's arms and trying to hold them back as Marik did the same to Joey. Duke had to push against Tristan's shoulders in order to sufficiently subdue him.

"Calm down, Tristan! Get a hold of yourself!" Duke was shouting as Joey shook off Marik's hands, having cooled enough to be left alone. The blond turned away with a scowl, grabbing his bag before leaving the locker room completely. Only then did the others let go of Tristan, albeit reluctantly.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" Duke demanded, crossing his arms with a frown of disapproval. "Why are you so determined to pick a fight with him?"

"I can't help it, I just can't _stand_ the guy!" Tristan looked mad, but not violent anymore. Marik took Ryou's hand and stepped away from Duke and Tristan, pulling Ryou with him.

"I'm really sorry about this," Ryou apologized in a faint whisper as Marik's arms circled his slim shoulders and brought him close to the Egyptian's chest.

"It's not your fault," Marik murmured back, eyes still fixed on the ongoing conflict as Yugi and Mokuba quietly escaped.

"You two used to be best friends, and his relationship with Kaiba shouldn't have changed that!" Duke's reprimand was cutting, but he wasn't done. "So he didn't tell you he was bisexual. So what! A _true_ friend is supportive of his friends' happiness no matter what! Did it ever occur to you that maybe _he_ didn't even know he was bi until Kaiba came along?"

There it was, out in the open, all the things that nobody else had had the audacity to say to Tristan's face. The brunette, always ready to open his mouth and let stupidity flow freely from it, was dumbstruck.

"It's attitudes like _that_ "—Duke poked an imperious finger into Tristan's chest—"that make people afraid to come out and afraid to be honest about who they are."

"It's not about that!" Tristan spluttered.

"Bullshit!" Duke's interruption was enough to cow Tristan into silence again. "Your temper tantrums are selfish and absurd! If you don't find a way to at least _pretend_ to get along, we're not going to stay friends with you. I'm shocked Yugi's put up with it for as long as he has, but you don't deserve it."

"Can we go now?" Ryou whispered, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

"Yeah, let's go."

Marik led Ryou out, pausing only long enough to grab their things before they left.

"You already know what _my_ opinion on this is," Duke said coolly, crossing his arms.

"So don't bother repeating it then," Tristan growled, face still flushed from his fit of temper.

"You'll have to face it sooner or later," Duke sighed, uncrossing his arms to rest one hand on his hip. "And when you're ready, I'll be there to help-just don't make too much of an ass of yourself before then, okay?" He smirked and stalked away, leaving Tristan alone with his anger and doubt.

* * *

 **A/N: Life is absolute crap right now. x_x The next story in this series will come out in June. Please review and tell me what kinds of shenanigans you'd like to see these two get up to (Joey and Kaiba).**


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